The Hindu : Front Page : KCR avoids criticism against YSR

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Tuesday, Jul 19, 2005

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KCR avoids criticism against YSR

N. Rahul

Massive TRS public meeting at Warangal; KCR lists reasons for Ministers' resignations

WARANGAL: The huge public meeting of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) here on Monday evening saw the party chief, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, avoiding making strong remarks against the State Government.

Mr. Rao chose not to attack the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, whom he is scheduled to meet at a meeting organised at the instance of the AICC at New Delhi on July 20 to thrash out their differences. His speech did not evoke the customary response that his emotive speeches on Telangana issue from the crowd that almost filled the sprawling Arts College ground, the venue. Nevertheless, slogans rent the air whenever Mr. Rao and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president, Sharad Pawar, plumped for separate Telangana.

Mr. Rao said it was not the party's intent to `abuse' the Chief Minister. They wanted to express the agony of the people of Telangana at being deprived water. The killing of naxalites was their heartburn.

Going into the reasons for the recent resignation by TRS Ministers, he said it owed to the indifference of the Chief Minister to the backwardness of Telangana. The Ministers had made a specific request to Dr. Reddy to appoint the Advocate-General from among the advocates of the region but he brushed it aside on the ground that he wanted a `confidential' person. Could he not find one such person in entire Telangana.

The decision of the State Government to go ahead with Polavaram and Pulichintala projects to the detriment of the interests of Telangana was another reason to quit the Government.

Mr. Rao referred to the casual manner in which Dr. Reddy dealt with his TRS colleagues while narrating how the party was slighted. He warned that the TRS was no pushover as it was `institutionalised' now. It had a national political agenda supported by all parties across the spectrum. The credit for it went to the people of the region.

A reality in a year

He added that the resignations spurred the Government into action as it announced a special package for the development of Telangana and a cell to oversee implementation of GO 610. For his part, Dr. Reddy spent hours talking to Congress MLAs from the region on Sunday. All this for what. "Shuddered by the roar at this meeting".

Mr. Sharad Pawar said no force could stop formation of separate Telangana. It might take a year to four years but Telangana State would be a reality.

He said the political leadership in the entire country was convinced that the demand for separate Telangana was genuine. The UPA Government would not go back on its commitment to carve out the State made in the Common Minimum Programme.

Mr. Pawar also said this could well be the final struggle for separate Telangana. The issue assumed priority over similar demands for smaller States. The Union Minister of State for Rural Development, A. Narendra, also spoke.

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